A child of Business in the Community (BITC), Lesley joined in 1987 and is the only member of staff to have worked for all five chief executives of the charity and 12 Chairs.
Lesley graduated from the University of Exeter in 1987 and joined Stephen O’Brien’s team, quickly picking up the reins of running the chief executive’s office. She qualified as a Chartered Secretary in 1999 and became a Fellow of the Chartered Governance Institute in 2016 (previously known as The Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators).
Lesley’s responsibilities cover the governance of the charity, legal/contracts, facilities, data protection, insurance and the running of the Chief Executive’s office. Lesley was the first Company Secretary of The Prince’s Countryside Fund and undertook this role alongside her BITC job for seven years. She also managed the merger of the separate charity, Scottish Business in the Community, into BITC in 2015, working alongside the Chairs of each charity, and worked on the demerger of the International Tourism Partnership out of BITC in 2020. She moved BITC into its current head office at Shepherdess Walk in 2000 and has led negotiations on two more lease extensions since then.
Alongside Gail Greengross, Lesley co-led the 40th anniversary celebrations in 2022 and wrote the 40 year Timeline for Business in the Community and worked alongside Professor David Grayson on This Much We Know.
Lesley is also the Executive Sponsor for the BeWell Employee Network within BITC.
Lesley was recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List 2017, being awarded an LVO for 30 years’ service to the Prince’s Charities.